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THE BLAIR DOSSIER
On the international scene the big news of course is British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s speech to Parliament and his tabling of what he calls the proof of Saddam Hussein’s stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction.

And the claim that Saddam Hussein could launch chemical and biological weapons attacks in as little as 45 minutes.

Prime Minister Howard is in London and met with Prime Minister Blair The interesting thing in the days ahead will be if the Blair dossier is embraced as proof enough for not only his own politicians but by the British people. And in a flow on by the Australian parliament and the Australian people.

Prime Minister Howard has said the Blair document will be made available to the Australian parliament.

And Howard will be probably echoing the Blair line that “the danger of inaction far outweighs the danger of action.”

The most important place right now though I believe is in New York --on the banks of the East River. That is the HQ of the United Nations.

Will the Security Council give President Bush the clout that he demands?

Give him the new hard harsh resolutions against Saddam Hussein and a tight deadline threatening military retribution if he does not comply?

I noticed over night that China has come out strongly warning of “severe consequences” if the US launched a strike against Iraq without UN approval.

The Chinese prime minister said that Iraq must comply with UN resolutions and accept the weapons inspectors but on the other hand he said that Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected.

And it is worth going back to President George W Bush’s speech TO the UN on September.

He kept introducing paragraphs with the words “If the Iraqi Regime wishes peace”. And he listed all the things the Iraqis had to do to avoid war and all those things are in existing UN Resolutions.

Meanwhile at home politicians on both sides of the house have been attacking the Bush position. Some not even backing an Australian involvement even if it comes with the imprimatur of the United Nations.

Whether the Blair Dossier will pacify them remains to be seen.

Wednesday, September 25, 2002